Crawick Multiverse 20th March 2016

Sanquhar is famous for its tiny post office (established in 1712) which claims to be the oldest working post office in the world.

 

 

Coal has also been mined in the Sanquhar area for many years and the open cast mines have left some rather ugly scars on the landscape. However the Duke of Buccleuch has funded a major project in the area that combines both land restoration and art. He asked the famous landscape artist Charles Jencks to design and create the Crawick Multiverse. It has turned what was an eyesore into an outdoor space to be enjoyed by everyone.

The Multiverse has areas of grassland, mountain, desert and a gorge and takes you on a journey past galaxies, comets, universes etc. It covers an area of approx. 55 acres and everything on site has been created from materials that were left behind after the mining stopped, including approx. 2000 boulders.

Approaching the site there doesn't appear to be anything to see. Tracks lead away from the car park passing a notice board, but there is no clue as to what you will find!

 

 

The board advises that there are two routes - the low road that takes an easy stroll through the site or the high road that takes you, via the ridge, to the viewpoint that oversees the whole site.

We thought we would try the higher route to start with. As we walked up the hill tantalising glimpses of the site appeared through the trees.

 

 

The largest rocks on the site mark the start of the Comet Walk.

 

 

This leads you to the highest point of the site called the Belvedere, via a ridge with scalloped edges that emulate comets' tails. The highest point gives you a stunning view of not only the site, but also the surrounding countryside.

 

 

 

 

 Returning to ground level from the viewpoint leads to further exploration of the individual areas of the site. A North-South line splits the site down the middle. The path is edged with approx. 300 boulders and other walkways cross this path East-West.

 

 

Following the path Northwards leads you towards the lookout again. You can really see the scalloped edge of the ridge from down here.

 

 

At this end of the site are the spiral galaxies of Andromeda and our Milky Way. They are represented by two mounds of earth (25 and 15 metres high) with boulders on top of them. You can walk along the spiral paths that lead you to the top of each mound.

 

 

You can also walk around the spiral path of the multiverse...

 

 ... and investigate the Supercluster. This is a collection of abstract triangles representing the forming of our universe and its place in the cosmos.

 

 

Returning along the North-South path you reach the amphitheatre.

 

 

 

This can hold 5000 people, faces due South and is at the heart of the site.

The Crawick Multiverse is an amazing creation and it is difficult to do it justice in a few photographs. There are parts of the site that I haven't even included in this blog - it is one of those places that you really need to see for yourself!

 

 

 

Charles Jencks, the designer has a home of his own just outside Dumfries, which is designed with a similar philosophy. The Garden of Cosmic Speculation is a 30 acre sculpture garden created by Jencks at his home, Portrack House, near Dumfries. Like much of Jencks' work, the garden is inspired by modern cosmology.

The garden is private but usually opens on one day each year through Scotland's Gardens Scheme. This year it will be open on 1st May.

Watching at Watchtree Wed 16th March 2016

Watchtree Farm was originally named in memory of a tree from which local people used to watch for reivers heading towards the area from Scotland.

In 1941 the land was requisitioned “under wartime emergency powers” for Great Orton Airfield. Work began in August 1942 on three concrete runways, a perimeter track, four  hangars, a control tower ...

 

 

What is left of the Control Tower

 

– as well as various communication, technical and accommodation blocks. It was officially opened in June 1943, but did not become operational until October and later it became an air ammunition park for the storage of munitions.It closed in August 1952 but the airfield was not sold until June 1964, and after that it was used mainly as agricultural land until 2001. Parts of the runways can still be seen today. As it was an airfield, the land is flat so no hills or slopes to worry about!

 

 

Part of a runway

The six turbines comprising the Great Orton wind farm replaced ten smaller ones in 1999. This increased the generating capacity of the wind farm from 3 to 4 MW.

 

 

 

 

In 2001 during the foot and mouth outbreak the airfield was acquired by Defra, and became internationally infamous because of the animal slaughter and carcass burial that took place here. But one positive legacy of the crisis was the dedication of local people, with support from Defra and others, which resulted in its transformation into what is now a wildlife haven, educational facility and leisure attraction.

 

 

 

Watchtree Nature Reserve was created in 2002 and was named after the farm that occupied the site before it was developed as the Airfield in 1942. Watchtree Wheelers was created in 2007 to provide a cycling opportunity for disabled and disadvantaged people within the reserve environment. The tracks and paths around the site have been resurfaced so that as well as being flat they are even too! There are a great variety of cycles for hire - and were being well used while we were on site.

 

 

 

 

The Visitor Centre is a modern building on the edge of the site. Watchtree put on a series of events during the year including hare watches, photography workshops, a variety of walks looking for wildlife, bat walks and there is also a kids club.

We went to Watchtree on a day that didn't look too promising initially, but developed into a nice sunny afternoon. We began walking along the perimeter track and then headed into the interior of the site. Evidence of Spring was there to see - from the furry pussy willow catkins bursting into bright yellow flowers, to the bright colour of the Scarlet Elf Cup fungi.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Buzzards circled above us and we spotted 6-8 small birds in the field.  Skylarks?? We had been hearing them, but not in this instance. We believe they were meadow pipits.

All the while we were walking we could hear bird song - another sign of spring. Blue tits, chaffinches, great tits, blackbirds, coal tits, great spotted woodpeckers and long-tailed tits were flitting about from tree to tree and calling to each other. We stood and watched a tree creeper only a few feet away from us.

 

 

 

There are small lakes dotted around the site. Around them, and in the woods, some trees were sprouting leaves or catkins and the evergreen holly still had some bright red berries.

 

 

 

 

Heading back along the runway we called in at the hides overlooking small lakes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mallard, coot, mute swan, tufted duck and teal were spotted along with a lovely Little Grebe.

We finally managed to find the Skylarks we had been listening to for much of the afternoon. Without noticing them on the grass, we spooked them, but then they landed not far away and wandered about for a few minutes. Time for us to look at them in more detail through the binoculars and identify them definitely as skylarks. The male had his distinctive crest in full view.

 

 

 

 

Passing by two turbines, we headed back towards the visitor centre. A pause in the garden filled with bug boxes and a man-made pond for dipping activities gave us great views of tree sparrows. With them, glowing in the sunshine, were yellow hammers. The males couldn't have been more yellow if they had been dipped in paint!

 

 

 

 

A great afternoon which we really enjoyed. Looking forward to the summer when there will be even more to look out for - flowers .... dragonflies .... butterflies ...

 

Mystery Tour 4th March 2016

Our mystery trip began at Castle Douglas, at Irving's Factory shop. Having successfully stocked up on their yummy biscuits we set off to take the scenic route back home. See if you can fathom out where we went...

 

 

Seen outside a house being renovated! It didn't take long to feel as if we were right out in the countryside - we saw buzzards overhead and lots of little birds flitting in and out of the hedgerows. Then there suddenly was a red Kite just in front of the car - hovering in the breeze.No matter when we come to the area around Castle Douglas we are always lucky enough to see at least one Red Kite. They are such beautiful birds, especially in flight with their forked tails twisting as they change direction.

 

 

It may still be winter but there was plenty to see as we drove along.

 

 

The fields near houses and farms look quite green but as we gained height the countryside was still very brown.

 

 

We stopped a couple of times to watch the flocks of birds that we met along the way. There were chaffinches, greenfinches and goldfinches flocking together, moving along from tree to tree as we approached. Then later it was starlings and fieldfares, landing in the fields just far enough away to make them almost invisible against the brown grass.

By now the sun had come out and blue sky appeared... making it feel more like spring even if it was bitterly cold.

 

 

Continuing on....

 

 

Know where we are now?

We are coming up to what used to be the Glenkiln Sculpture Park, about 7 miles West of Dumfries. There used to be six sculptures, placed in moorland settings around Glenkiln Reservoir, until one of them was stolen. Most of the remainder were then removed, on the advice of the police.

Between 1951 and 1976, local landowner Sir William Keswick had assembled a collection of works by Auguste Rodin, Henry Moore, and Jacob Epstein.  The sculptures were:-

Saint John the Baptist (1878) by Auguste Rodin

Visitation (1926) by Jacob Epstein

Standing Figure (1950) by Henry Moore

King and Queen (1952-1953) by Henry Moore

Glenkiln Cross (1955-1956) by Henry Moore

Two Piece Reclining Figure No1 (1959) by Henry Moore

What a shame that someone couldn't just leave them there for everyone to enjoy.

We continued on our way, noting the Cross up on the hilltop, but feeling disappointed that we wouldn't be seeing the rest.

 

 

 

 

 Home again, after a lovely afternoon out. What beautiful countryside within just a short ride.

 

Floral Favourites February 2016

Have decided to keep a record of the floral highlights of our garden from month to month as this year progresses. Here are the recollections for February.

Well January may have been very mild, wet and miserable but winter has got it's own back this month! We have had several severe frosts, albeit with subsequent sunny days, but it has been very cold. We even had a sprinkling of snow too. Do you remember mornings when the inside of the window was frosted? Well we had frost on the windows - but only on the outside!

 

 

Some of the flowers that were budding/flowering have been halted in their growth.

Nothing, however, seems to stop the snowdrops. What strong little flowers they are to push through the ground and look so beautiful.

 

 

The Christmas roses are another value for money plant at this time of year. There are just more and more flower buds appearing. I have tried to support the flowers above the leaves so that we can actually see them! Even after a severe frost when their stems are laying down near the ground they only seem to see the sun come out and then they are upright again!

 

 

Primulas continue to look better and better. Did you know the word primula comes from the Latin feminine diminutive of primus, meaning first (prime), applied to flowers that are among the first to open in spring?

 

 

The grape hyacinths have blue buds appearing among the green leaves. Love these little flowers, even if we do find them spreading all over the rockery.

 

 

Celandines are very green now with just a few yellow buds, but we are still waiting for the first ones to be really open. Have seen some around the area that are in flower but ours are in quite a shaded spot so are not quite there yet!

 

 

Our miniature daffodils are another star feature this month. Their bigger cousins are certainly pushing through the ground and some are developing yellow buds but the little ones are looking good.

 

 

We have been watching, and listening, to 2 robins in the garden this month. At times one of them has been sitting next to our 2 representations of robins and looking good sitting next to our tank of crocus.

 

 

The witch hazel is looking spectacular at the moment too. We have always liked this plant but never had one, so this year we have treated ourselves! Hope is looks as good as this every year!

 

 

 

I know this isn't a traditional garden flower, but I just like the way it is making little cushions on the surface of the brick.

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The garden is certainly waking up, despite the cold this month, and so are we. We look out the window and notice all that needs doing - grass mowing, dead heading and weeding but the garden is still too wet to work on and it has been bitterly cold. It was lovely in the greenhouse the other day when I went in while the sun was shining, but as ours is not heated at all it is still too cold at night to do much in there beyond keep it tidy! We have sorted through our seeds left over from last year and decided what we need to buy this year but gardening in earnest is going to have to wait a little longer.

Plants that have been kept indoors for the winter are coming to life too. Geraniums sitting on the windowsill are sprouting new shoots - and even the occasional flower, and my Scilla violacea is looking very healthy. The flowers are so small it is difficult to appreciate how delicate, but pretty, they are.

 

 

 

Snowdrop Festival Part 2 28th February 2016

Danevale Park was a first for us in the Snowdrop Festival but it was not a first for Danevale Park. It first opened for snowdrops in 1951, and has opened every year since! In 2013 Mrs Gillespie was awarded The Diana Macnab Award for outstanding services to Scotland's Gardens.

 

 

 

Danevale Park is on the A713 two miles from Castle Douglas and one mile short of Crossmichael. The garden offers disabled access and visitors are welcome to bring their dogs.

 

 

Scotlands Gardens says of Danevale - The mature grounds have a wonderful display of snowdrops as well as aconites and many other wild flowers. Walks through the woods and alongside the River Dee, followed by an old fashioned afternoon tea in the house can make this a memorable day!  Well they were correct!

We parked, in what looked like the old stable yard, with it's cobbled floor.

 

 

We began by walking around the back of the house and across the lawn to a burn at the edge of the garden.

 

 

We then found the wall of what used to be a vast Walled Garden. Peeping through the gate, it now has a large area fenced off for chickens! Lots of interesting ferns and plants sprouting in the wall now though.

 

 

This part of the garden takes you to the River Dee, and on a sunny afternoon the water sparkled.

 

 

Well the snowdrops so far have been lovely... but then we reached the corner of the walled garden....

WOW!!   and WOW AGAIN!!    A sea of white, enough to take your breath away!

 

 

 

What a show of snowdrops! And amongst them are almost as many daffodil tips pushing through the ground. Another beautiful display later in the month for those who live here!

Continuing our wander through the woods, still next to the Dee, we saw huge old trees that have been here for hundreds of years, newer plantings that are continuing the tradition, along with other interesting features.

 

 

Wandering back towards the house we found more snowdrops under every tree and by every path.

 

 

The snowdrops at Danevale just left us speechless. How wonderful to live in a house with a display like this. I wonder when they were first planted?

As the pre-visit information said "an old fashioned afternoon tea in the house can make this a memorable day" Seeing the snowdrops had already made it memorable, but afternoon tea would just be the icing on the cake!

Tablecloths, real china cups and saucers, plates of cakes and scones and a delicious cup of tea were served with efficiency by very busy helpers. A fantastic end to a wonderful afternoon.

As we sat enjoying our afternoon tea we noticed a hand-written list about Danevale Open Days. It was a record of every open day they had organised, along with admission prices, details of the weather on each day and how much money had been raised for charity. A wonderful record and a very interesting read.

 

 

 Here are just a few examples of some of the entries.

 

 

 

The weather this year could not have been better, the snowdrops looked beautiful, the teas were reasonably priced, plant sales seemed to be going well - I wonder what the record for 2016 will say? Will have to go back just to see!